Tropical Freeze; where DK is relevant again

WARNING; this WILL contain spoilers! Tread carefully!

So last Monday I went out to buy a Wii U. Earlier, on Saturday, I had purchased Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze, my most anticipated game of this year.

A reason I love Tropical Freeze is because it fits in perfectly with other DKC games. Returns did too, but it fell flat on some points. And even then, Returns was amazing. We all thought it couldn't get better than Returns. Except, guess what? It did get better than Returns. Who would'a thought that?

Why I love Conker's Bad Fur Day

(I was gonna do this as a video, narrating it, as a subtle jab to another video I don't even deem worthy of watching -- but my dumb deep Dutch vocal chords don't allow me to do anything without sounding like a complete moron. Boo hiss.)

Conker's Bad Fur Day was my most favourite thing three years ago. The game was so dear to me because it was made by Rare - I'm betting that if Rare had no involvement, I never would've picked up the game in the first place.

Truth to be told, violent and/or questionable things couldn't interest me less at the time. I got into some anime about dogs killing each other... because it was about dogs. Similarly, I got into Conker because he wasn't some buff, muscular, middle-aged guy, but instead, a cute little squirrel.

Well, really, that's the catch; he looks cute and fuzzy, but in reality, he's got a severe drinking problem and ends up depressed.

More Tropical Freeze rambling

Donkey Kong Country; Tropical Freeze is, undoubtedly, the biggest, most exciting Donkey Kong release since the game that came before it. Not only is it a sequel to Donkey Kong Country Returns, a game that baffled everyone upon release for the sheer unbelievability that Donkey Kong was having another game where he is the star as opposed to having a silly little side-role as a toothy-grinned maniac, it fixes everything the previous game did wrong -- ahem, didn't do.

For one, there's the return of Dixie Kong as a playable character alongside Diddy, after she hadn't been up and at it in a main game for over ten years -- not counting ports. There's also Cranky, who, against all odds, teams up with the young 'uns to finally do some platforming himself. While thinking of his boasts in the original game as being ironic was part of the fun of his character, it is amazing to finally see him prove himself. The bad guys, the Snowmads, are characteristic Viking-themed animals that have a lot more charm than the Tiki Tak Tribe could ever think of having. And of course, David Wise returns, and this time, he's in charge of the entire soundtrack -- much like he did in Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest. I have heard bits of pieces of the new soundtrack and it brought tears to my eyes. It's so wonderful and perfect.

Also, the savanna level?

I called it. I freakin' called it.

Don't beat 'em, join 'em - about Viva Piñata

Why, yes, I am back. And I say; let's talk about Viva Piñata.

The games are just about the most beautiful thing to ever grace the Xbox 360. And maybe PC and DS too. Quirky, colourful, and creative, it's a sort of simulation game where you basically build a garden which attracts live animal piñatas. If they like your garden enough, they take residence and you can build them houses, name them, even dress them up in cool costumes, romance them so you can get more of the same species, to eventually send them to a party. (These functions were a lot more elaborate in the sequel.) Meanwhile, Professor Pester and his ruffians and sour Piñatas attempt to wreak havoc.

Some of its best points, to me at least, are its colourfulness, and its heavy stylization. It's not meant to be realistic. Instead, everything is vibrant and charmingly cartoony, and adorned with nifty patterns. From the smallest flower to the biggest tree - even the grass. But somehow, it is still believable, something Rare is very good at. They dare to be different, and that's exactly where its charms come from. Aside all this, it has a lot of shout-outs to past Rare games, which is awesome.

And of course, the music. The amazing soundtrack as composed by Grant Kirkhope, who also composed Banjo-Kazooie's and Donkey Kong 64's soundtrack, is both whimsical and atmospheric. I'm not exaggerating when I say it made me cry sometimes simply because it is so beautiful.

I have been mesmerized by this lovely game for years now, ever since I got the original on the PC, and later bought an Xbox 360 and played Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise, its sequel. Lately, I've begun picking it up again and I'm having the most fun I've had in quite a while. Trouble in Paradise can be considered as some kind of 'expansion pack', as it has everything from the original game, but more, such as over 20 new Piñata species, more things to do, new regions like the Piñarctic and the Dessert Desert, and a lot of new items. Even if it's a standalone game.

So anyway, beautiful games. But the real reason I picked it up again was because a group of friends of mine I know from role playing on Tumblr were all excited about it, and chatting about it on our Skype group. I remembered I had the game as well and I played it again. But what they were also quite enthusiastic about was the animated series. Yep. I originally dismissed it because I had the dreadful 'hurr hurr, it's not the same as the games so it sucks!' attitude. You know, the same thing people think about the Donkey Kong Country cartoon, which I'm presumably one of the biggest fans of. Now I've lost that attitude, which is for the better.

Anyway, I heard good things about it and decided to check it out - with the open mind to end all open minds.

After having seen only one episode, I was hooked. It was no Donkey Kong Country.

In fact, I daresay I liked it better than Donkey Kong Country.

Random thoughts - Klump's Lumps

Don't waste your time

looking at a sorry sight like me

A quivering pile of mush, that's me

All my years of service and devotion to the King

I'm a quivering, snivelling, non-existent thing

I know I've failed

I know my ship has sailed

Stripped of my rank

I know my ship has sank

And I haven't got a friend in the world...

I'm a quivering, snivelling, blubberin', nameless non-existent pile of nothing, worthless, soggy pile of mush

And I haven't got a friend in the world, no

I haven't got a friend in the world...

This wonderful episode of the Donkey Kong Country TV show stood out to me because it was so emotional and stayed like this 'til the end -- some silly scenes with Krusha and K. Rool aside -- which was pretty unusual for a cartoon like this. I mean, Klump. Dude's job was his life, and then he gets kicked out with nowhere to go. Dixie Kong is the first (and only) Kong who befriends him. Never mind that he's a bad guy. It was this episode that made me love Klump. Precious thing... I cannot fathom how anyone couldn't have at least a bit of sympathy towards him after this episode.


Emotional things in kids' cartoons like this are usually only found in fan fiction these days, and I find this downright saddening.

(Note: if the formatting looks weird, it's because I was going to post it on Tumblr at first. I decided not to. Also, I passed 10000k pageviews. You guys rock, thank you. :) I'm gonna be working on a little tribute image soon! ...And something special. It concerns the cartoon and music. You'll see! ...And sorry for the shortness of this post. More stuff coming soon.

...

Wow. Did I seriously type 10000k? I think I was tired when I wrote this... I obviously meant 10000.) 

Whose show is it anyway

And now, it's time for something completely different.

Sorry for not posting much here. School has been eating me alive. That, and I've found out about the Regular Show and for some reason this cartoon has captivated me. (I might or might not have a crush on Mordecai now and I have no clue why.) But do not worry, this doesn't mean BeJungle'd will turn into, uh... something centered around that. Although the show is awesome, trying to think of logic behind it is a lost cause. And I'll always love Donkey Kong Country.

I have been writing on this article for a few months now, so some thoughts might be outdated.

The Donkey Kong animated series (there I go again) isn't too well-received on the internet, for shame. Though I hear much people saying it isn't good, I personally find it quite clever, and much more fun to watch than most recent cartoons (sans the Regular Show, of course, which is clever. Other clever cartoons are Adventure Time and uh... more stuff.) Ahem. Moving on...

What would a Donkey Kong cartoon be like if I was in charge?

In no way an insult to Nelvana's work, by the way. They've done amazing work. I just wondered how it would be if I was allowed to write it.

Warning; we are now moving into highly unstable Loads and Loads of Characters territory. Approach with caution.

1. The Kong Clan

Primary main characters would be Donkey Kong, Diddy, and Dixie. These three are just what makes DKC to me.

Keep Diddy's personality from the show with a bit of added 'tough kid' attitude, make DK a bit tougher and make Dixie more cheeky, like a female equivalent of Diddy. I'm not certain about the voices, but I am certain that Andrew Sabiston should return as Diddy Kong 'cause I find his Diddy to be the best Diddy portrayal so far.

Watch out, Dix! I'mma pop ur bubblegum!

The secondary cast would consist of Kiddy (taking the role of Baby Kong), Tiny (in either her original design or the newer, I don't know. Maybe the original because I'm tired of seeing her recent design being portrayed as fetish fuel all the time.), Funky, and Cranky. Tertiary characters would be Candy, Swanky, Chunky, and Lanky.
Less about DK gushing over Candy and more interaction with his family. Add fluff. Lots of fluff.
Quartiary characters? Hell, Bluster can return too.

Not much to it. Let's move onto my personal favourites...

2. The Kremling Krew

Properly labelled as such this time, the Kremling Krew still consists of Klump and Krusha with K. Rool as the leader. Though this time they're accompanied by Kalypso, the fair lady lizard with the awesome pink hairdo and Kludge, that big, hulking blue dude that apparently has the mindset of a small child (even moreso than Krusha). Sometimes Kritters, Kip and Kass, Kopter, and some others tag along as well. Kruncha is Krusha's slightly flamboyant cousin, and Krusha may or may not undergo a name change thanks to copyrights. For the sake of simplicity I will just refer to him as Krusha.

K'Rool's gang of evul dudes (and two dudettes) continue to wreak havoc on DK Isle for no reason. Well, except to steal the Crystal Coconut. Again? Yup. And the banana hoard. But here's the catch; they want the coconut 'cause it's the only thing that can tell the true location of the bananas, which are much-renowned golden bananas! Heh. I'm a friggin' genius. /brag

DKC in Japan

So yeah, thought it was time for just another silly blog post. I will contemplate stuff, but mostly ramble. Ahem... I have been working on a new header, so expect to see that soon, too. Whenever I'm not lazy, at least. So, instead of complaining about things, I will probably complain about things. Wait...

Recently I have been obsessed with the Japanese language for some reason. Mostly because Donkey Kong, because hey, when have I ever obsessed about something else? (That was a rhetorical question.) I've gone out of my way to memorize how to say 'I love Donkey Kong' in the language, frequent Pixiv for fan art and surf around on the web for more tomfoolery like that. I am beginning to appear like a weeaboo. But alas...

The Donkey Kong Country TV show appears to have a much bigger fanbase in Japan than it does elsewhere. I've seen many wonderful pieces of fan art but what really amuses me is that I mailed one of those people who does fan art like that, telling them that their art was awesome, and I got a really polite and grateful mail back. That was, like, so cool. But alas, one thing that differs; it's never been established that K. Rool, Kaptain K. Rool, and Baron K. Roolenstein are the same people, so most of the fanbase sees them as brothers. This also explains how Super Smash Bros. Brawl does the same.

But one thing I love is that they love the show as much as the games. I often feel like I am the only one with that mindset.

...

And with that, I'm off again.

Donkey Kong Land III

(Sorry for my inactivity! I have a lot of articles waiting to be published, but they're either very old now or require some fine-tuning.)

Yup. Donkey Kong Land III.

I got this game a while ago from a good friend of mine 'cause she didn't play it anymore, and only recently got to play it. (finished it in the same day, too.)

Obviously, it's like Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! in many ways, such as how it stars Dixie and Kiddy on their adventure through the Northern Kremisphere in search of the... Lost World?! Where's DK? Wasn't he ape-napped?

A whimsical fairy tale gone wrong

One game that has ever stayed in my mind as the best game ever, is Banjo-Kazooie.

This game was released on the Nintendo 64 and as soon as it came out, it blew people's minds. It was rumoured to be a game that would rival the immensely popular Super Mario 64 by a mile. But it did more than that for me. It exceeded it.

By more than a mile.

One of my most cherished art works. I believe it shows my love for the game and the relation between the two main characters quite well. (BTW: Kazooie's diving after  Banjo after he got knocked unconscious.)

Banjo-Kazooie appealed to me more than any other game did. First, it was about anthropomorphic animal characters. I always adored animal characters playing main roles in anything (which, undoubtedly, made me to be a furry later on, which I only discovered a month ago.)

Much love for Diddy's Kong Quest

The best game ever made.

A risky subject. Due to ever-changing opinions, no game truly can be called a perfect game. But for me, there is. This game is Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest.

(I recommend listening to this music piece while reading this; click!)

I have not said it a lot, but this game means so much to me. So. Freaking. Much. Just everything about it is perfect in my eyes and it's what I think of if somebody mentions Donkey Kong. How ironic - he isn't even playable in that game!

The things that differ from the show and games and WHY

First off, I kinda lost track. Sorry about that. I found out about Tumblr and I have been posting there more often than here. Sincerely sorry. Find me here; click! I will always use this blog for my long-winded ramblings, do not worry!

You won't believe how many times I hear people yelling; "The show sucks! It's nothing like the games!" And that makes me a little sad, to be honest. Nelvana still did their best and I can see how much attention to detail they paid. The DKC TV show, while by no means perfect, is still enjoyable and the few things that were changed, were changed with reason.

1. K. Rool's cape and tail

In the show, the King himself lacks a tail and has an extremely short cape that bears resemblance to a tiny napkin.

Why is this?

As you can see with Klump here, his tail's as stiff as a plank. This was because back then, it was virtually impossible to animate tails, apparently. Because Klump doesn't lay down very often, it's not that bad. But K. Rool jumps and scurries all over the place, and all his expressive mannerisms and movements would certainly clash with a un-moving tail. For this same reason, Diddy Kong didn't have a moving tail until season 2. Why didn't the others get moving tails too, I hears ya ask? Monkey tails are much easier to animate than fat crocodile tails.

As for his cape, it was impossible to animate flowing cloth or hair back in 1998. That's why it's so crazily short, too.

My ultimate top fifteen of DKC music

I figured I'd post one of these since every cool kid does so nowadays. Donkey Kong Country has, in my mind, always stuck out as one of the games of which the soundtrack really enhances the experience. There is something about those beautiful, heartfelt tracks that strike my heart.
I'll be discussing Donkey Kong Country, Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!, Donkey Kong 64, and Donkey Kong Country Returns (not counting remixes.). Other Rare soundtracks will be discussed later on. For anyone that hasn't played Returns yet, this post will contain spoilers!

15. Northern Hemispheres (DKC)

What appears to be an extremely minimalistic track, it builds its suspense up the farther it goes - and it does so with style. It really fits the barren, snowed-in wastelands of Gorilla Glacier, capturing the wintry feel of icy mountains without sounding overly cheerful. And you have to play the game to believe this, but the snow falling down is an amazing effect that really adds to the experience. This track made its triumphant return in Donkey Kong Country Returns. Even though the snow has seemingly melted away, the track also seems to work perfectly for barren mountainsides.

14. Donkey Kong Rescued (DKC2)

Ah, the credits theme! Should be remembered by anyone who triumphed over the game before. This amazing track is really powerful yet bittersweet, and really tells you that you've brought an amazing journey to an end. It begins with a characteristic squeaking of which I'm not sure what it's from, to some awesome percussion and a simply breathtaking trumpet solo, and ending it with the most awesome electric guitar... esque instrument I've ever heard. This is one of the many tracks in the series that really makes you believe, or want to believe, that Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Dixie Kong and all those other characters are real.

Where I rant

Well, yeah. I rant a lot, as it should be known. But first, some horribly misplaced praise.

So, a few days ago, I was merrily looking across YouTube to see if I could find some stuff which I liked... it has to be said I found a few amusing YouTube Poops of the Donkey Kong Country cartoon. While these parodies were mildly amusing, I decided looking up the source material for a change.

Here's a link to the intro. Can somebody tell me how do I shot web embed videos in my blogs?

Boy, I would never have thought that I'd enjoy such silly, primitive CGI. Me, an animation connoisseur - actually watched this series that many people deemed bad? Oh my goodness! Well, it was not as bad as the DKvine made me believe. Sure, the animation was primitive - prehistoric, even, I believe it was made a few years after Toy Story - the first completely computer-rendered feature film - but it worked well enough. Visual gags abounded - most in the form of DK's wildly random expressions. Even the highly unnerving musical numbers each episode didn't put me off, and strangely enough, I enjoyed the voices.
Hey, if it got Diddy and Dixie making out*, it can't possibly be bad now, can it?

Even though Diddy looks like a duck at times, he's coolio. Rather than being a stuck-up braggart like in Diddy's Kong Quest, he's a Bratty Half-Pint and also The Lancer. (that's me quoting TV tropes) Not to mention his voice is actually fitting? This is madness! Oh and he calls Dixie 'my girl' once. Pfffhaha, that made me both crack up and melt down in a puddle of fangirlness. (yeah, I'm a big time shipper of those two together, okay?) I've officially considered him to be my favourite character in the TV series. Yeah, Dixie is in it too, even though her design is more reminiscent of Tiny's. And she's more of a girly-girl than anything, and often loses her pets. Such as a crab named Crappy Crabby. How... somewhat bothersome... Oh well, at least she's in anyway!

DK himself... well, I've seen better renditions of him over at DeviantART, but it's not too bad. Candy, er... don't know what to say about her. Why couldn't they have just kept her a girly girl and have Dixie be the tomboy, hmmm? Still, not very bothersome. Even the character of Bluster whose only appearance so far is in the series, I could tolerate - his constant whining about his mother is funny. Funky could be better. Cranky is exactly like in the games. His voice is just perfect. Some of the other show-only characters like Polly Roger, Captain Scurvy and his gang, and InkaDinka Doo, I could live without, though. But still, those faces that the Kongs pull make me laugh out loud... louder than I'm supposed to.

Derp herp a derp.

But in my opinion, the one that steals the show is King K. Rool. (Koning Wreed for you Dutch peops)

Can it has be crystal coconutz tiem now plz?

'WHYYY NOOOOOOOT!'

it's one of the most popular sayings of him - I do believe it even became a meme. He yelled it out in the episode Bug a Boogie (which I have not seen yet, bear with me). I do believe it explains his personality perfectly. He's quite a large ham (there I go quoting TV tropes again), what with his constant monologues about wanting to steal the Crystal Coconut, the series' MacGuffin. (I am so sorry. TV tropes will ruin your life. It's true.) Even though he, for some reason, lacks a tail, and his cape has been replaced by something that looks akin to a towel. That was probably because back then it was really hard to animate fluttering capes, so yeah...

His two henchmen, Klump and Krusha, are two delightfully silly bad guys that are quite humorous at all times. So this trio of bad guys? They're a bunch of simpletons compared to their alter-egos in the games... but that makes them all the funnier. I even saw the episode Kong for a Day, where Krusha imitated DK's voice... that was both hilarious and disturbing, because it led Dixie to believe that DK was wanting to make out with her. Eeeew... not to mention everyone flipped unjustly towards DK. In the end all was well, though! Yay happy ending!

The name's Bond... Klump Bond. Dude, what?

The only resemblance to the games the series had is, sad as it may seem, the characters, bananas, and more bananas. Some level themes too, like snow, forests, mine carts, etc. Small references to some characters' game behavior has been hidden in though, much to my pleasure - for example, a pissed off Diddy Kong throws a bitchfest by throwing his hat on the floor and stamping on it. Where did I see that before again...?

All in all, it's definitely not the best thing ever... but it's so enjoyable to watch! If you can see past the rather poor animation (back then it was marvelous, lemme tell ya) and the sometimes VERY annoying musical numbers (between you and me - Diddy cannot sing... But! He! Can! Dance~!), the dialogue, the surprisingly good voice acting, and more randomness totally makes up for it.

Oh, and for the ranting: I get really pissed whenever I look around on eBay and see people addressing Diddy as 'Baby Donkey Kong' and 'Donkey Kong Junior'.

Okay? Okay. Alas, I'm off, gonna see Bug a Boogie. Lol Bananaphone. See ya!

* note: 'making out', my foot. All that happened from what I've seen is Diddy trying to kiss her. Only to be interrupted by Cranky. Or rather, a vision of the old fop. So yeah. No DiddyxDixie for me. Baaaw.